Foxwoods still facing questions in Milford

After fielding questions from selectmen and more than 20 residents following their 90-minute presentation, Foxwoods officials said they felt Monday night's meeting was a success, though questions still remain from the town.

After fielding questions from selectmen and more than 20 residents following their 90-minute presentation, Foxwoods officials said they felt Monday night's meeting was a success, though questions still remain from the town.

“I think this started a really good dialogue,” said Foxwoods President and CEO Scott Butera after he presented the company’s plans for a $1 billion, 660,000-square-foot casino at the intersection of Interstate 495 and Rte. 16 in Milford.

After the April meeting, where selectmen expressed disappointment with the lack of project details, Butera said he and the development partners knew they needed to come back with a more extensive presentation.

Prior to the meeting, Butera said he hoped to clear up many of the misconceptions Milford residents had about how a casino might change the town.

“We want to alleviate people’s fears that by having a resort of this nature in town it’ll take away from the type of community they have,” Butera said. “We absolutely want to preserve elements of the community and the important family values. If we can get people to embrace that, that’d be great.”

However, after the Foxwoods presentation, more than 20 residents questioned the developer, mostly identifying concerns with the plans.

The selectmen, along with several residents, questioned the accuracy of Foxwoods’ traffic study, which shows 92 percent of traffic coming from I-495 and as little as only 13 car trips being added to some major intersections in town.

“I’m flabbergasted by that traffic presentation,” said resident James Flannagan.

Selectman Dino DeBartolomeis agreed that the traffic presentation has to be “augmented, beefed up” for the town officials. He said he wasn’t sure about the accuracy of the results.

Several neighbors of the casino property said the developers’ plan to alleviate traffic by adding two lanes to I-495 covering the Milford interchanges and a new interchange at Rte. 16 would mean a road being built in their backyard.

“It’s going to be right on top of property lines in that area,” said Steve Trettel, a local resident and member of Casino Free Milford.

Other residents questioned Foxwoods financial viability as a company.

“We wouldn’t move forward if we thought there were (financial) risks, but clearly we need to get the community comfortable with this,” Butera said.

He added that after the company’s restructuring, Foxwoods will be reporting their financial numbers publicly, which they are currently not required to do since they are not a publicly-traded company.

Other resident questions revolved around social and safety issues, including problem gambling, a possible rise in drunken driving and prostitution.

Butera noted the millions they spend to help problem gamblers and said their goal is to create a “clean, fun and safe” facility.

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Contact Lindsay Corcoran can be reached 508-634-7582 or lcorcoran@wickedlocal.com. For Milford news throughout the day, follow her on Twitter @LacorcMDN.